A new version of Google Maps hit the beta channel late last night, bring the version number up to v9.32.0. It looks mostly unchanged, but there is a brand new menu option in the Contribute screen that allows users to clean out locations they've never visited before. The bigger news comes from a teardown. A handful of notable new features are on the horizon, including a true cellular-free mode for navigation, real-time traffic notifications, and more. Since this is a beta release and the Google Maps team has been incredibly ambitious with new features, I expect some of the things listed in the teardown are actually live, but for many different reasons they may not appear for everyone or at all times. Keep a watchful eye open for just about everything listed below, almost all of it could be waiting for somebody at Google to give the go-ahead. In the meantime, if you would like to grab the apk, a link is at the bottom. Remember, this is a beta release, so it will only roll out to you if you have signed up for betas, or you wait a few weeks (or months) for the update to hit your phone naturally.

What's New

Unofficial Changelog: (things we've found)

Remove locations you've never been to from the Contribute screen

I Haven't Been Here

If you're adamant about keeping your Contribute screen fairly clear of places to rate and review, you may have stumbled onto a tricky decision: what to do about places you've never visited, but Maps thinks you have. It happens all the time, especially if you happen to stop at a neighboring business. On the one hand, you can dismiss those places, but then they will never automatically show up in your list again. You could leave them in the list, but that's going to lead to a really messy list. Let's just pretend a false rating isn't an option. Now Maps gives you the option to put a location back and let it appear again after you've actually dropped in for a visit.

This feature joins the overflow commands in the list of to-do locations on the Contribute screen. It reads "I haven't been here" and shows a dialog on the first use to explain that places you never want to see again should be dismissed instead. This should make it much easier to clean up your list of locations now that many of the cards can be put back in the deck.

Teardown

Disclaimer: Teardowns are based on evidence found inside of apks (Android's application package) and are necessarily speculative and usually based on incomplete information. It's possible that the guesses made here are totally and completely wrong. Even when predictions are correct, there is always a chance that plans could change or may be canceled entirely. Much like rumors, nothing is certain until it's officially announced and released.

The features discussed below are probably not live yet, or may only be live for a small percentage of users. Unless stated otherwise, don't expect to see these features if you install the apk.

Wi-Fi Only (Cellular-Free) Offline Maps

When Google launched support for offline navigation and search with Maps, many users were understandably disappointed to discover that the app would still ignore preloaded maps and use cellular data if it was available. This means offline maps were only useful in areas where data was unreliable or non-existent (or when using airplane mode, but that's a bad compromise). Since many people live with metered service and have to pay fairly high prices for relatively small increments of data, regular use of Maps could get pretty expensive.

The last major beta update for Google Maps revealed that offline data may soon find a place on SD cards, and now it looks like users will have the option to almost completely shut down usage of cellular data. The new mode appears to be named "Wi-Fi only," referring to the point that offline maps are still downloaded and updated over Wi-Fi, and cellular data connections are effectively left alone even during navigation. Some promo text also acknowledges this feature should help to improve battery life since the cellular radio doesn't have to be actively pulling data for as long.

<string name="NO_OFFLINE_AREAS_HEADER">"Don't forget to download an offline area"</string>
<string name="NO_OFFLINE_AREAS_WIFI_BODY">For Maps to work on %s, download an offline area</string>

<string name="DATA_USE_CAVEAT_TITLE">You should know...</string>
<string name="DATA_USE_CAVEAT_WIFI_BODY">A small amount of data might still be used, but it will be significantly less while on %s</string>

<string name="SAVE_CELLULAR_DATA_DESCRIPTION">"Maps will only work in %1$s unless you're connected to Wi-Fi"</string>
<string name="SETTINGS_LINK_TEXT">To save cellular data while using Google Maps, go to settings</string>

There is a note pointing out that "a small amount of data might still be used," but no specifics are given to explain how or why. Logically, the reasons to use small amounts of cellular data might include minimal data reporting, checking in to renew offline maps to prevent expiration, or to complete searches when the currently stored maps can't return results. Whatever the reason, it's likely that this quantity is going to be measured in kilobytes, or maybe crossing into a few megabytes, which is usually within acceptable parameters for most people.

Ok, some of the same footnotes from the past surely still apply. For example, maps are still going to expire after 30 days if a user doesn't connect to check in and update, and features like traffic predictions and satellite views still won't be available fully offline. Judging by many user reactions from the past, these restrictions will still be totally and completely unacceptable to somebody; but let's be honest, it will be good enough for most of the real-world situations out there.

There are still elements I suspect may be missing, so Wi-Fi-only mode probably won't go live with this version. As always, it's possible. If it does go live, expect to see a welcome screen to explain the feature and a new option in the Offline settings screen.

Area Traffic Notifications (Previously Live Traffic?)

About three months ago a teardown turned up an "experimental" Live Traffic feature that I assumed to be based entirely on fresh data. There have been a few minor additions to the strings since then, but they've been mostly benign. We've received a number of tips suggesting this feature had gone live, though many of them still read a lot like the already existing Traffic layer. With this update, things have changed quite a bit. The previous strings are gone and a new set have taken their place with a more specific and dedicated purpose. What was previously called Live Traffic seems to have been renamed to Area Traffic Notifications.

The new text is much more helpful for explaining what Area Traffic Notifications are supposed to be. Users will get notifications with real-time traffic conditions in their area and details about what to expect before getting caught in a jam. It looks like notifications will come with either a declaration that "the coast is clear" or a warning about delays that can be tapped on to see more details. Like most of the other notifications in Maps, these can be turned off if they're not wanted.

It's not clear if area traffic notifications are live for anybody yet, but I don't see any reference to them in a Settings screen, so I'm not too optimistic about seeing them with this version.

Enticing Local Guides With View Counts

Google incentivizes participants of the Local Guides program with points that earn new levels and benefits as they progress, but that's not the only thing contributors have been known to compete over. Active members regularly receive a running tally of the total and individual view counts for their contributed photos. These view counts aren't useful for anything in particular, and there are no rewards attached to them, but it doesn't stop people from comparing stats. For example, Liam and I were running neck-and-neck for a while. He's now thoroughly blowing me away, but I've been lazy about adding pictures lately.

Google is going to begin pinging Local Guides about locations that offer "a lot of view count opportunities." This is going to be a notification that tells people a certain place has very popular photos and encourages them to add their own to the list. As if the Notifications group in Settings weren't already getting pretty full, this too will be a toggle users can switch on or off to fit their taste.

strings

<string name="POPULAR_PLACE_NOTIFICATION_SETTINGS_SUMMARY">"See when you're at a place that has a lot of view count opportunities"</string>
<string name="POPULAR_PLACE_NOTIFICATION_SETTINGS_TITLE">Photo view count opportunities</string>
<string name="POPULAR_PLACE_NOTIFICATION_SUBTEXT">%1$s photos are popular on Google Maps</string>
<string name="POPULAR_PLACE_NOTIFICATION_TITLE">Add a photo of this place</string>

<string name="POPULAR_PLACE_LANDING_PAGE_LINE_1">"Help people see what it's like at"</string>
<string name="POPULAR_PLACE_LANDING_PAGE_LINE_3">Add photos of this place to help thousands of people on Google Search and Maps</string>

Yeah, this notification is basically self-serving and it totally plays into peoples' competitive nature, or perhaps just their vanity, but it will definitely encourage some contributors to snap a few extra shots while they've got a few free minutes.

Miscellaneous

Now we're getting down to some of the oddball entries that aren't necessarily as interesting or don't come with enough information to make good guesses.

Great New Images

I always see new images popping up with updates to different apps. Most of the time, they end up gracing the hero image at the top of the post or I slip them into sections relating to them. There are other times when I don't know where else to put an image, but it still deserves to be seen, so I throw together a little section like this with whatever jumps out at me. Here are a few images that seem like they're a little more unique, or perhaps more attention was paid to them than many others.

error_offline, error_transit, error_unknown

The first three have "error" in the name, but none of them really look like they should be errors. Whatever the case, they look pretty cool. The next one is a little closer to Google's current art styling. It's named yourplaces_illustration_upcoming, so it's obviously related to the Your Places screen, but it doesn't seem to be showing up anywhere in the live app. This will probably take a position at the top of the action bar at some point.

yourplaces_illustration_upcoming

Local and Translated Names

This is as straight-forward as it gets. Google Maps will display some names in both the local language and with a name translated to a language familiar to the user. This is obviously good for travelers that might not otherwise know the words for certain types of businesses, especially restaurants, tourist-oriented sites, and similar landmarks. Names will appear in the local language first, followed immediately by the translation in parenthesis.

Commute Cards

There are a few new strings that seem to describe a card with some relation to making a commute between home and work. My guess is that this card will appear in Maps at certain times of the day, shortly before it's time to leave to make your daily trips. It doesn't seem exceptionally special since it feels like there are already a dozen other ways to launch navigation to your home or work.

I've got no idea if this is live yet, but it's certainly possible. Hey, this is the side-effect of working from home, I don't do commutes.

Download

The APK is signed by Google and upgrades your existing app. The cryptographic signature guarantees that the file is safe to install and was not tampered with in any way. Rather than wait for Google to push this download to your devices, which can take days, download and install it just like any other APK.

On that note I had "I haven't been here" option for a couple of months now.

Rod

What the hell, why can't Google just copy stuff from HERE Maps?

HERE Maps: you are able to download your entire state/province on one tap, or even the whole country's data.

Google Maps: you have to select the area in the viewfinder, and probably download a lot of useless data, unless your state is a perfect square.

HERE Maps: after you are using a downloaded area, it will not use network at all

Google Maps: uses data even if the area has been downloaded, unless you shut down mobile data (ffs!)

HERE Maps: you have an "offline" toggle to revoke the app's network access. So you can use the app without using your data, regardless if the area you're viewing has been downloaded, or has been cached when you hovered over it while in wifi last week

My old Nokia C5-00 had more advanced maps than what Google Maps are. Even back in the Symbian days (s60v3 I think?) HERE maps were amazing.

Taco Monster

You realize no one's stopping you from using Here maps.

Rod

Am I not allowed to hope for better services?

raazman

If Here is "better" then go ahead and use it?

Rod

HERE (app) is better, but you just can't beat Google's database.

Zargh

Chances are the better database is in part due to those limitations/data-centric outlook. It's a tradeoff.

Rod

Or because it's Google.

That's self-explanatory.

Taco Monster

What you are missing is that it's harder for Maps to go offline than it was for Here. Every user has his/her personalized map that emphasizes different things depending on the user. Unlike Here, which AFAIK presents the same info to everyone. I would imagine this adds quite a bit of complexity to things.

Rod

Are you talking about the data that gets logged into location history and whatnot?

Taco Monster

No, the whole map is customised. What routes and places get highlighted is determined by you and your history. Not to mention saved places, labels, etc.

Rod

The map is the same. The differences are the pinpoints and the suggestions provided by the location history data, which is already cached in your device anyway.

Derik Taylor

I can agree with one thing in particular here. Selecting offline maps really sucks in Google maps. If I am going to have a location offline, I would rather select the whole state rather than just a small area slightly larger than the city I live in, over and over again.

Rod

I can't believe someone approved this. Wasn't Google the company that only hired geniuses, or something?

They would have to allow selection of state or country as part of this change, surely?

Udayan Banerji

I am guessing their motive is to keep the user connected as much as possible. That ways they get more data, specially traffic, but also how much traffic they are driving to various businesses, which means revenue.

Not saying it is right or wrong, from our perspective anyways, but that can be the case.

Rod

I don't mind data usage for traffic updates, that's what most people want anyway.

As for the revenue, why can't the app log it all, and upload once the phone is connected to wifi?

Udayan Banerji

I guess that is what they are doing now. Notice in the article "a small amount of data might still be used", which I think is what you are suggesting.

Why did it take them this long to figure it out? I don't know. Maybe businesses prefer real time data?

Rod

I don't know. But I hope they improve it.

If Nokia got it working right, Google can too.

PT

It does, if you are using Google location service. I often use Here maps to navigate. Then see the trip afterwards in Google maps timeline. And no, Google maps wasn't running during the trip.

Rod

Location history is part of Google Play Services, which was running in background.

Sashank Narayan

Speed limits too.

Rod

Yeah, definitely.

waloody88

That's way I keep saying Google maps suck

Marcelove

"HERE Maps: you are able to download your entire state/province on one tap, or even the whole country's data.

Google Maps: you have to select the area in the viewfinder, and probably download a lot of useless data,"

Yeap, like downloading the map from the whole country won't contain a shitload of useless data... This argument of yours is fully flawed...

Rod

Depends on the person, if you have a 256GB phone and are an adventurer, would you mind wasting a few gigabytes of your storage to ensure you'll never be lost?

Try downloading a whole state in Google Maps, that's not square-shaped. You'll probably download many parts of the surrounding states altogether.

That's what I mean't with "useless data".

Marcelove

Independently if the person is adventurer, or have a device with lots of free space to waste, downloading all country will result lots of data that will never be used...

The other points you cited are valid, but particulary this one isn't correct... Even if you download only your state, many parts of it you won't visit, so it is useless...

Considering you are from USA, i can compare your data size to mine, as i'm from Brazil and both are large countries, which leads to big sized downloads of places we will never visit. Even downloading only our states at HERE, we gonna cache many places we won't never visit.

Look at the picture... I live and travel inside the red dot area. If i download only my state using HERE, or download the square around my state using GM, both will contain data i will never use... And the same will apply to you and to where you live. ;-)

Rod

Keyword: choice

You're not obligated to download a whole country's map, but you CAN, if desired.

As for your second point, yes, HERE could improve it's app by offering more granular regional downloads, like municipalities. Someone from a big state, like Amazonas, probably will never need to have all that data in their device. But you can't deny that having ONLY your state's data is better than being obligated to download parts from surrounding states too, isn't that right?

I'm not from the USA, I'm from Rio de Janeiro. And yes, I got your point, we need a more granular control of area downloads, as stated above.

But I rest assured knowing that HERE's downloading method is way better than Google's poor implementation.

Gavriel Ostrow

thats not the main point... say someone from america travels to the UK and doest want to use data or cant. using this feature will save so much pain and data and money. as well as for people who travel or people who dont want to use their data bucket on maps. these things are what saves money and data. it would be kinda nice to know where the hell i am if my service drops out, ya know?

Rod

Thanks for agreeing.

Shi Qiu

I wish we just could do both.
I live in my country near the border of two states, and near the border to three countries. Additionally two of the countries doesn't have the data available to download by state, but only by the whole country.
That's a lot of useless data I have to download when I want to have my surroundings available offline on HERE.
But I prefer that method when it comes to roadtrips to other countries.

Acrobat1991

But in Here no way to select your own route (waypoints) to a destination that may be very far away....3 choices for a 10h drive is not enough and could not provide the best solutions (friends recommend a route, I rather be able to select it). We can do this on the web (Here) but not in the Android app. At least if I could do this on the web and save it in my "collections" I could sync it with the Android app but no. So here is very limited for a long distance drive when, without knowing the whole route, you could still select some roads based on recommendations (friends/family)

Rod

I didn't say it was perfect.

There's always room for improvement.

But the points I highlighted are valid, don't you think?

Acrobat1991

I agree that your points are valid....I just been shouting at Here to have waypoints included for a while now (I really can't belive this is not a basic function of a navigation app...not to be able to select part of your route is unbelievable to me!) and they just return with the "laconic" response "thanks for the idea, we will think about it for future development". Your points are valid, I personally think this is my biggest issue.

But yes, to be able to download only a "square" versus a whole province/country is ridiculous as well.

I don't get it, if HERE Maps is better, and has this or that, why complaining about Google Maps ? Use HERE Maps instead

Rod

I do use it.

But, am I not allowed to hope for better services?

Just_Some_Nobody

Well, let's think about this. Where does the vast majority of Google's money come from?
They want you to use a data connection of some form in order to maximize the probability that you'll view an ad.

Rod

Yeah, but the ads come through searches, right?

All the commercial places displayed in the maps already make part of the downloaded file.

Fifth313ment

A lot of those features are found on Waze, which is owned by Google.

Udayan Banerji

I am guessing the Commute Cards can also be something like Waze, where if you open the app at certain times, the app asks you if you are "Going to Work?" or "Going home?". But no question marks though.

Paul_Werner

That'd be cool, I mean it already does do this if you open Maps in Drive Mode but it'd be nice for the times you just open Maps directly or when you select Drive Mode and instead the app flips you back to regular Maps

CoolRaoul

And still no sign of sticky "avoid tolls" option? This should be simple to implement I guess.
A feature which have been continuously requested for more than 3 years in this product forums thread (<<- clic)

Sashank Narayan

Google Maps for iOS already has that option though
-____-

srini1990

Google Maps has not been working well this July. Samsung devices are all missing the ETA bubbles when you are "recalculate" view. I have reverted back to the June version for now.

Any tips on this OP?

I have been attempting to fix this by removing cache, data etc.,

The ETA bubbles missing is really lame. Please!

brnpttmn

I wish they would add a "full screen navigation" mode. Basically, drive mode with the route line and turn information that's included on the route line.

I think you are talking about the downloading of the offline maps via Wi-Fi, whereas the post is talking about something else - namely, forcing Wi-Fi-only connectivity for the Maps app even if you have cellular data so that it doesn't end up using any data at all.

You could preload the offline maps over wi-fi, of course. But as I described in the article, the problem was that Maps would still prefer your cellular connection as long as it was available. In other words, it didn't matter if you had preloaded a bunch of maps, Maps would still suck down data over cellular as soon as you hop in a car and start driving. What's discussed in the teardown is an option to disable that behavior and use the preloaded maps instead.

tabguy2

"True cellular free mode"? I've used maps on my tablet that is wifi-only since 2011.

Google has many good products. Google maps is good ...but it is not suitable for navigation: no speedometer.

Also, unlike many other Google products, it is not really aimed at collaboration. Waze is not too bad, but please copy the good stuff from Waze to Google maps asap.

pfmiller

Why is a speedometer a requirement? Don't most cars have them already?

Rod

It's good for speed limit warning.

Tom Z

Keep your eyes on the road. That's where they post the speed limit.

Rod

I take it you've never been to Brazil.

abc

That's also where they post signs with directions, so we dont need Maps at all then, right ?

Tom Z

Maps announces where to turn. The signs on the street are generally street names. There's a big difference.

BoFiS

Sigh, I keep updating, and have the beta, but when can I save my offline maps to the SD Card please?!

quick

Still the alternate routes overview is broken... used to show bubbles with "1min slower" "5min slower" on each route when you hit the alternate routes button while navigating.

Already sent feedback about it :/ comeon google!

Taco Monster

It does that for me.

What has stopped is the announcement of which side of the street the destination is on.

quick

Even when you pick the alternate routes button it shows for you?

This is how it shows for me.... Note: I do see the bubbles for "5min Slower" when regular navigation view is showing... but the alternative routes overview is up it doesn't.. (edit image didn't attach)

So Google finally found a use for a SDCARD? Pity the Nexus phones don't support it :-(

Fifth313ment

There use to be a commute card but I haven't seen it in ages. Anyone else remember where it would say "20 mins to Work" or "40 mins to Home", etc? I don't think my Google Now has been doing that for a while now?!

Total Security

Anyone else wanting the feature that Google Maps' navigation voice can use your country's language, and not the system language you have set on your device (like Waze allows it to do!)?